Nature Iraq founder and Current CEO

Born in Kut, Iraq in 1958, Dr. Alwash spent much of his younger years in Nassariya on the fringes of Iraq’s southern Mesopotamian marshlands. His father, Jawad Alwash, in his role as district irrigation manager was one of the first irrigation engineers to gain access to the marshes and regularly brought his young son along on trips into the marshlands to resolve water disputes. When Dr. Alwash left Iraq in 1978 to escape the Baathist regime, he took along with him impassioned memories of times with his father among the resilient marsh Arabs – memories that would eventually inspire a life of environmental activism aimed at restoring, protecting and preserving the delicate balances within Iraq’s ecosystem. After completing his BS in Civil Engineering at the California State University at Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Southern California, Dr. Alwash subsequently worked for twenty years as a soil and environmental engineering consultant in southern California.

In 1997, he became active in Iraqi expatriate politics and joined the Board of Directors of the Iraq Foundation, an Iraqi NGO based in Washington, DC. Prompted by the release of a United Nation’s Environmental Program’s report in 2001 that detailed “one of the world’s greatest environmental disaster’s” – the desiccation of 90 percent of the Mesopotamian Marshlands at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime (See Nature Iraq’s “History”) - Dr. Alwash and his wife, Dr. Suzie Alwash, founded the Eden Again Project and began to assemble a group of international experts to evaluate the potential for restoration of the marshes. Their scientific opinion was unanimous - the marshlands could and should be restored. By August 2003, Dr. Alwash took a leave of absence from his consultancy work to direct the Eden Again Project operations in Iraq – the seed for today’s Nature Iraq. More recently, Dr, Alwash joined the board of trustees of the newly established American University of Iraq – Sulaimani, where he founded the Twin Rivers Institute for Scientific Research, which will soon oversee the academic and capacity building activities currently lead by Nature Iraq. Dr. Alwash can be found dividing his time between Sulaimani, Baghdad, and Iraq’s southern marshlands; or speaking internationally about the need to address the many environmental issues facing Iraq, and the successes and work yet ahead for Nature Iraq.

Chibaish Office Managing Director

Jassim Al-Asadi, the Managing Director of the Chibaish office of Nature Iraq, born in the depths of the central marshes of the Southern Iraq in 1957, with a passion for nature since his childhood and a close friend to the local communities. He has been an engineer in the field of water resources and techniques of pumping stations for more than 30 years with government departments in the central and southern Iraq. At Nature Iraq, he was a team leader of Socio-Economic surveys in more than 10 projects and director of field projects in different areas. Representative of the work of NGOs of Iraq in Secretariat of the Ramsar in Switzerland since 2009. He has had many activities in the field of advocacy for water for the Marshes and the Iraqi Wetlands from 2008-2015, such as the Tigris Flotilla 2012-2013 and Dry lakes in Turkey in 2013. He participated in the Management Plan for the Hawizeh Marsh Ramsar Site, Iraq in 2008 and the Management Plan for the Central Marshes National Park between 2006-2010,

He has worked to save the Hammar Marshes and Central Marshes during the drought between 2008-2010 through proposing suitable solutions and undertaking activities with the locals and stakeholders. Throughout the last twelve years, He participated in a number of international meetings and conferences about the Iraqi wetlands held in Switzerland, Italy, Jordan,Turkey, Singapore and Egypt additional to the different national meetings and conferences for water and marsh issues. He also participated in preparing studies and surveys about the green villages and the Strategic Plan for the Wetlands, the architectural sites in South of Iraq. He has an interest in writing poetry and playing chess. His next step is establishing the Water Keeper project in Southern Iraq.

Sulaimani Office Managing Director

​Araz Hamarash is the Managing Director, Admin and Finance of Nature Iraq and Director of Sulaimani Office since 2007. He is in charge of planning and managing the organization's supportive services and HR activities. He thus partook in most of Nature Iraq's project activities such as workshops and conferences. He assists the staff in daily office tasks of record keeping, logistics, governmental and official representation, and reporting. He also participates in projects development, financial control and planning, and donor relations. Through this work, he ensures meticulous book keeping, organizational growth, overall efficiency, and financial viability. Finally, he is also involved with organizational strategy and development, in collaboration with Nature Iraq's CEO, directors, and projct managers.

Araz Hamarash born in Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyah, in 1958. For more than 20 years prior to joining Nature Iraq, he worked as an administrator and accountant in the private sector.

Director, Baghdad Office

​Haider Ahmed Falih, born in Baghdad, Iraq at 1976, he is Director of Baghdad office of Nature Iraq. He has a MSc. in Geochemistry ,Science College of Baghdad University, since 2005 Haider is participated in most of NI projects and activates, such as National Atlas of the marshes and wetlands project, Save the Tigris Campaign - Flotilla project, Ramsar Information Sheet and National Report on the implementation of the Ramsar convention project, and the Key Biodiversity Survey of Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, and New Eden Master Plan For Integrated Water Resources Management in the Marshlands Area, Iraqi Ministries of Environment, Water Resources and Municipalities and Public Works Prepared in Cooperation with The Italian Ministry For The Environment and Territory and Free Iraq Foundation, Water Quality Monitoring Program In The Iraqi Marsh Land. He also studied the environmental and hydrological impact of the construction of an embankment in Hawizeh marshes.

Iraq Waterkeeper Environmental and Advocacy Project manager

Shilan Aziz, is an effective civil society activist with nine years of extensive work and experience with international and humanitarian organizations and development programs. As a program manager with Nature Iraq Organization, she is in charge of managing day-to-day project implementation and contributing to the project activities, directing organizational development programs and managing overall organizational issues. In her current position, she advocates for legal matters related to the environment and its elements.

Her effective communication skills and leadership in planning, project management, development, proposal writing, evaluation, and monitoring helped her work in various capacities from detention centers, juveniles, violence victims, legal awareness, and environmental advocacy, to work as a trainer in and out of Iraq. She has also participated in drafting a mental health bill and shelter policies and procedures in the IKR. Under the slogan “Engaging Women in Building the Civil society, she participated in the first women conference in Kirkuk in 2004 to facilitate and explain the legal matters related the women’s rights as stated in the Iraqi laws.

As Iraq doesn’t have modern and strict laws to protect the environment, many attorneys enter in the private sector, simply ignoring the significance of the environment, ecosystem, and biodiversity for the Iraqi communities. Shilan is interested to gain more on implementation mechanisms for the environmental. She believes environmental lawyers can help companies become greener and draft business practices aimed at ecological sustainability.

Project Manager

​Hana Ahmed Raza, is a biologist working in the conservation of Iraq's wildlife with the main focus on the autonomous region of northern Iraq, Kurdistan for the last 6 years. She was the team leader of the Kurdistan section of the Key Biodiversity Areas Inventory for Iraq from 2011-2013 and one of the authors, who conducted the data analysis and wrote the assessments, edited, and translated in this Inventory “Key Biodiversity Areas of Iraq- Priority Sites for Conservation & Protection”. She is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group since 2013. She has been involved in different educational outreach and field survey projects with Nature Iraq through camera trapping surveys, coordinating international convention meetings and workshops inside Iraq, coordinating the first and second trainings on field techniques in mammal surveys and wildlife medicine trainings for Iraqi Veterinarians throughout Iraq. Active member and coordinator of the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) for Conserving the Wild Goats Capra aegagrus at Peramagroon and Qara Dagh Mountains, Sulaimani-Iraq 2011-2012. In addition, she has held different talks, presentations and documentary films on environmental education and public awareness. She is currently program coordinator and a Lobbyer for Protected Areas’ establishment in the Kurdistan Region in addition to her continued surveys on mammals of Kurdistan.​

EU Project Coordinator & River Advocacy

Diary Muhamad Rashid, is the‘‘ EU Project Coordinator & River Advocacy’’ at Nature Iraq, he was graduated in 2009 at University of Sulaimani, College of Engineering, Civil – Irrigation department, grade of BSc . Started working in Ranya , worked in constructing & maintaining of Asphalt road, culverts & retaining wall project. After that worked in the Construction of sewerage and water supply systems for Qrga in Sulaimani. worked in 400 bed’s hospital in Sulaimani, including concrete works for the buildings & retaining walls implemented by Subhi Company. With the same company worked on Sulaimani -Tasluja carrot median, including water tank, sewerage system and design of plants has been done in 2011. After that he worked with Qaiwan Group Company, Building and finishing of villas in Qaiwan City - Sulaimani. Other project was started in 2013, building the complex project of ‘‘Sairan City’’ in Sulaimani for three years, implemented by ‘’Hakki Ismail Company’’.Totally he has Seven years work experience as engineer including participated in the training for Project Management Program ‘‘Primavera’’, Overcoming Crisis and its Risk on Organizations, New Approaches in Teaching Foundations Management, Diploma in Modern Running of Companies and Private Projects, Environmental data collection, analysis, sharing and using data in environmental monitoring and the role for NGOs and the general public (citizen science), Environmental and social safeguards in international funded projects & Environmental inspections and development of a checklist and Energy Data and role in the implementation of the project and contribute to the project activities.

Razhan Aso Pasha, born in 1988, is the legal assistant at EU Project. She has a BSc. at General Law, Jihan University, Erbil. Work experience include land and property registration, company creation process, Entered more than 18 different lawsuits (Real Estate, Theft/Robbery, Traffic Violations, Personal Status and have set up and organized the required defensive regulations for those lawsuits, follow-up tax transactions for the clients. Trainings include: Real Estate Auction Mortgage, four-day training in Erbil (Access to Justice Program) organized by USAID, workshop for developing hands-on exercises at real sites that have threats to public health and create dialogues between CSOs representatives and enforcement staff, and participated in a training for Project Management and Fundraising.

​

Chibaish Office AccountantBorn in Basra, Iraq in 1982. Ahmed Alasadi graduated from Basra University, College of Arts, and first work step was with Nature Iraq. One of Chibaish team in Nasseriya ,Iraq’s southern Mesopotamian Marshlands. He believes that Nature of the marshlands need to be restoring, protecting and preserving for the delicate balances within Iraq’s ecosystem.